Just think of where we could be as a nation if some of the people spending years in prison for a nonviolent drug offense could have, instead, studied sustainable architecture or climate change adaptation?

There is no evidence that the FBI, other intelligence agencies, or the NYPD had a direct hand in Malcolm's murder. But it can't be totally separated from the well-documented, savage war that the FBI waged against black organizations and black leaders, including Martin Luther King Jr., during the 1960s.

Should the federal government task teachers, religious leaders, and mental health professionals with rating and reporting to law enforcement about the strength of a family's parent-child bond? A child's involvement in religious activities or his connection to a group identity? Whether there are "ideologues" within an American community or what its level of "cohesiveness" is?

We hear a lot about "teaching moments" and "life lessons," but do we really know them when we see them? By honoring our heroes and promulgating their brave stories, we can be reminded of the ancient Greek's definition of "citizen."

Mainstream society, especially on the Internet, has taken an enormous amount from the culture of espionage. We now routinely use multiple passwords, aliases, and disguises. We also employ a vast arsenal of techniques for both identification and deception

I once read that the "most precious jewels we will have around our necks are the arms of our children." God has entrusted these precious souls to us. Oh, what a blessing they are! Yet every day we read of another headline on child abuse.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation thinks Verizon could be violating a federal law requiring phone companies to keep customer data confidential. My take on all of this is that if nothing else, it's a clear violation of our personal rights.

I asked some lawyers if I have any meaningful basis for suit, action, or complaint in any venue. Probably not, they said. You'd be better off to launch a public campaign to raise awareness. So here's my public campaign to raise awareness. I'm publicly demanding that the FBI return my email and destroy all copies in its possession

Tami Hoag is a bestselling author who began her writing career penning romance novels. She is now known for crafting intricate psychological thrillers, probing the dark corners of her characters' minds. Forty million of her books are available in 30 languages.

Attacks on police are a great media story, but if the false narrative -- that policing is getting more dangerous -- continues to spread it will have a significant effect on how police do their jobs --- making them more fearful than they already are, with increasingly deadly results for the general public.

What Johnson knew or worse authorized Hoover to do to thwart King will never be fully known. But as Selma pointed out, Hoover's gutter campaign against King happened on Johnson's watch, and he did nothing to stop it.

Mr. Obama, in ruling out prosecution for torture, may have thought he spared us bother, but actually he did us harm. By casting accountability into limbo, he makes possible government-sponsored torture in the future and prevents America from recovering the thing most precious: our good name.

Ali Soufan is a former FBI agent who's spent a decade speaking out against torture. He helped expose CIA "enhanced interrogation techniques," and left the Bureau partly because of the agency's excessive use of it.

I first met Eric Holder during the Clinton years when he was serving as Deputy Attorney General. Back then, my community was deeply troubled by FBI harassment, the government's use of "secret evidence" to detain individuals and profiling of Muslim or Arab-looking individuals at airports around the country.